Braised lamb shank

With mint gremolata, rhubarb-cherry-raspberry sauce, spring potato salad and skillet green beans. Accompanied by Justin Paso Robles Iscoceles Isosceles.

Happy Fathers' Day.

Mint and garlic from the garden; rhubarb, purslane, parsley, beans and potatoes from CSA share.

Stone Ruination IPA

100+ International Bitterness Units. Toasty malts. Crispy hops. This is some damn good beer, with a price tag to match.

Pours a hazy amber color with just a shade of green. Big cap of sticky-icky head that slowly dissipates into a thin hop-oil slick. I admired the abundant carbonation swirling and struggling to find a path to the top of the beer. Dense dank hop flavor, so herbaceous and spicy. The malt backing is not sweet, more of a rye bread taste. Huge lacing, I'm looking at a perfect imprint of where the head was at the beginning of the pour with resinous striations all the way down the glass. Awesome.


Stone Ruination IPA
Price paid: $16.00/ Six pack - yup.
Freshness: Perfect
ABV: 7.7%


Enjoy by 4/20/10 - will do, Stone. Will do.

Snow capped

Photographed December 25th, 2009

New Year's Eve

This soup was delicious. Perfect for recovering after flying out to Grand Rapids on December 31st. Happy New Year, Twenty-Ten!

tofu, ginger, vermicelli, cabbage, chicken stock, collard greens, bacon

Brighter discontent

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others' burdens, easing other's loads, and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of the holiday. ~ W.C. Jones

Merry Christmas

Squash soup

INGREDIENTS
6 bacon slices
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 pound portabella mushrooms, sliced
½ pound parsnips, peeled and chopped
½ pound carrots, peeled and chopped
1 green apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 jalapeño peppers, chopped
3 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
4 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Cook bacon in a 4 to 6 quart heavy pot over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Add garlic, jalapeño and caraway seeds to fat in pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is pale golden, about 1 minute. Broil squash pieces for 5 minutes or until brown. Add squash, carrots, apple, thyme, bay leaves, chicken broth, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and boil, uncovered, until vegetables are tender (15 to 20 minutes). Discard thyme and bay leaves. Sauté mushrooms in butter and oil over medium-high heat, season.

Purée soup until smooth; add vinegar, season. Serve topped with mushrooms, crumbled bacon and sour cream (cranberries and goat cheese, pictured).

Happy Thanksgiving

Vegetarian alternative: Use olive oil and veggie broth in lieu of bacon and chicken stock, maybe throw in some smoked paprika.

I recall

The band setting up at Rocky's
Free drinks, working the door
Jameson and Camel Filters
Collecting $3.00 covers
Costume contest winner: Magnum P.I.
German techno dance party upstairs
Paris porch, this memory's getting hazy

Go Phillies
Happy Halloween

The wall, part one

Dry-stacked stone retaining wall being built for garden bed alongside house, more to come - eventually. Happy Mothers Day.